What do you think of Irish Craft beers

TOOYOUNGTODIE

I'm a big fan of craft beers, the only styles I dont like are the really dark beers. I love blondes, wheat, ambers, IPA's etc, i'm also lucky enough to travel to the UK with work once a month and love some of the micro brewed beers over there.

| was on the beer on saturday and I was drinking irish craft beer, i feel its not up to the same level as some of the UK or American stuff( dont get me wrong a lot of US & UK stuff is dodgy)

Are the irish craft brewers missing a trick, some Irish beers are great- eg. Galway Hooker, but some are very bland.

BeerNut

We don't yet have a Kernel or a Thornbridge, but we will before long, I'd say. Some of the special editions produced by the likes of White Gypsy have been at that level, but you need to be quick to catch them.

the beer revolu

Microbrewing is relatively new in Ireland and the brewers tend to be quite conservative but this is changing all the time.
I'm always a little disillusioned when a new brewery comes on line and produces yet another trinity of: blonde/pale, Irish red, stout/porter. But new brewers seem to think that this is expected of them. I think it is also a mistake for new micros to try to appeal to mainstream drinkers rather than to try to appeal to the growing number 'educated' beer drinkers.
However, in recent years, some of the micros have started to make more seasonals and special edition beers and are starting to experiment and have a bit of fun with it.

So, in answer to the OP: I think there is no issue with the quality of Irish micros but they have been rather conservative and, I think, underestimate the appetite for bolder beers but I think it is just a matter of time before we have a really diverse range of Irish beers available.

For the last few weeks, my local has had a very atypical selection of Irish beer on draught - White Gypsy Pilz, White Gypsy Belgian style strong blond, Metalman pale ale, Dark Arts porter. All really very good. All distinctly different from each other.

johnnyskeleton

I think Irish craft beers are a different style to other country's efforts (or at least those beers they manage to export).

Most Irish craft beer seems to be about makig a higher quality version of already popular styles. Which is why no Irish craft beer is as bitter with hops as even the more moderate uk and us ipas. Porterhouse hop head is one of the most bitter beers in Ireland but it pales (no pun intended) in comparison to brewdog, odells etc.

Likewise, each brand is still findig it's feet, so there are less experimental beers with crazy stuff in them eg juniper in victory, that peach scented one from theakstons etc.

Overall, I think irish brewers produce a very high standard of beer and you are far less likely to get a dud (although a few spring to mind) as you are with uk craft beers and real ales.

All that said, I find it hard to go for a Galway bay or carlow beer when there are bottles of weird and wonderful beers from all over the world to sample.

Beanstalk

The focus on ale can be off putting. There are millions of ales already available here. Maybe more of a focus on belgian type beers would be more interesting for me personally.

I've yet to find an Irish craft beer I really like. i was fond of the franciscan range in cork and i have aq friend who made a nettle beer which i loved. In general though my heart sinks when I see another Irish ale.

bamboozle

got into the craft beers this year and have tried most of the irish ones, really like metalman, galway hooker and the O'hara's range.

maybe we're not at the standard of brewdog, dogfish head, redhook etc but we're getting there and i'd much rather but an irish craft beer than the usual stuff we're served.

Saruman

Actually I think the standard of most Irish breweries exceeds many of the UK and US counterparts..... for the styles they make that is.

The problem is lack of imagination and being unwilling to just go nuts with the grain and hop bill.

We don't have an imperial IPA type beer. It would be so easy too. The porterhouse just needs to take Brain Blásta and hop it like hop head. Perhaps up the hops a little too. A simple 7% hop bomb. Or they could start from scratch which might be better.

In fairness, the porterhouse at least has hop head and their celebration stout is just phenomenal.

Metalman have experimented with different hop versions etc from a single batch. Pacifica for instance.

We are getting there, but the quality of what we have already is usually on par and often exceeds what I get in the UK and US.

_blank_

Saruman wrote: »

Actually I think the standard of most Irish breweries exceeds many of the UK and US counterparts..... for the styles they make that is.

The problem is lack of imagination and being unwilling to just go nuts with the grain and hop bill.

We don't have an imperial IPA type beer. It would be so easy too. The porterhouse just needs to take Brain Blásta and hop it like hop head. Perhaps up the hops a little too. A simple 7% hop bomb. Or they could start from scratch which might be better.

In fairness, the porterhouse at least has hop head and their celebration stout is just phenomenal.

Metalman have experimented with different hop versions etc from a single batch. Pacifica for instance.

We are getting there, but the quality of what we have already is usually on par and often exceeds what I get in the UK and US.

What I don't like about not only Irish Craft Beers, but craft beers in general, it seems, is the sheer amount of Hops that they ram into them.

It makes me extremely nervous to purchase anything more than one bottle something, I really, really don't like intense hop flavours, but it seems to me that unless a brewer has stuffed a hundred kilos of hops into every pint he produces, then the so called "educated beer drinkers" immediately dismiss and slate the offering.

the only real exception is Dark Arts.

Saruman

It entirely depends on the beer/style. You say Dark Arts but you tend not to get super hopped stouts in any country (though they do exist).
Likewise you are unlikely, to get a wheat beer paced with hops and you can be damn sure that if it is hopped to hell, they will label that fact.

Herb Powell

Have to say, a lot of my favourite beers are made in Ireland.

O'Hara's IPA, for example-just great stuff.

Ravelleman

Herb Powell wrote: »

Have to say, a lot of my favourite beers are made in Ireland.

O'Hara's IPA, for example-just great stuff.

I've tried a lot of pale ales in the last couple of years but I keep coming back to O'Haras. I've had many that are truly excellent but I never get tired of what they're making in Carlow.

squonk

Galway Hooker man myself. It's a great beer. I got to try Creens at the Ocean Race lately and it was a lovely beer as well. I wouldn't describe myself as educated but 'bored with the usual over chemicaled slop' would be a better description. I drank my way around Belgium a few times before the beers were available here. Our local pub in Lisdoonvarna is producing it's own microbrewed beers now and they're great but not quite there yet. I think they're still experimenting with the alcohol content or something because I invariably end up locked after a small few pints. it's showing promise though!

Heroditas

Dark Arts is just awesome!
Love it.

slayerking

I actually think alot of the Irish craft beer is very good quality.
Like others have said, many of the Irish breweries are maybe playing it a small bit safe with there regular offerings, but many of the them have made some really great seasonal/festival brews.

I actually think were comparable, if not better than the majority of what's coming out of the UK.

CiaranC

The industry is too young to be gambling with producing large quantities of beer which may or may not sell.

Here in New Zealand the established brewers do some very exciting things, but these efforts are on the backs of their lagers and pilseners which sell 10 times the amount of any other of their beers. Producing a 9% IIPA is all well and good and generates no end of publicity for them among craft beer circles but I very much doubt it translates into huge sales. Theyd do well to break even on these beers Id wager, even though they sell for 12-15 dollars a pop.

Also, there is far less of a market for these beers compared to places outside Ireland, they are EXPENSIVE to produce and the Irish scene is full of people who think 4 euro is too pricey for a bottle of beer.

CiaranC

For an idea of what is possible, check these guys out. 24 beers produced in 24 weeks.

http://garageproject.co.nz/BEERS